Vote for us in Best of Milwaukee!
We are proud to announce that North Shore Bank is a finalist in the Shepherd Express Best of Milwaukee 2022 readers’ choice contest. You can help by voting for us and by spreading the word!

Vote at shepherdexpress.com/best-of-milwaukee/2022 — scroll down to the “Services Rendered” category, and then select “Bank.” After you vote, click the share button to tell your friends and followers about the contest using Facebook, Twitter, or email.

Votes runs through Thursday, December 1, 2022. Thank you for helping the bank be recognized among the Best of Milwaukee! •••

Corporate trick-or-treat delivers spooky fun
Princesses, superheroes, and all manner of ghouls, goblins, and critters descended on Corporate last Friday, October 28, for the Corporate Community Outreach Committee’s Halloween trick-or-treating event. Besides roaming the building seeking out treats, kids enjoyed snacks and crafts in the 4th Floor Cafe, and everybody could check out the goodies on offer at our bake sale. And of course, Information Systems guaranteed plenty of spooky fun with a haunted house that featured two time slots with different levels of scariness, so both older and younger children could have a great time.

You can see some of the terrifying sights they experienced in the video above, and check out photos as well. Take a look … if you dare!

Employees show off imagination in pumpkin contests

The Deposit Services and Commercial and Consumer Loan Administration teams each held pumpkin decorating contests to bring a little bit of Halloween spirit into the office.

Deposit Services once again applied their creativity to teeny-tiny pumpkins. The Loan Administration employees took a crafty approach, making pumpkins from paper.

In Deposit Services, deposit operations rep Debra “Jonesy” Jones took first prize, followed by senior deposit operations specialist Janet Russell in second and deposit operations supervisor Kristin Hoch in third. And in Loan Administration, consumer loan processing team lead Glenda Waters and senior consumer loan specialist Kelly Schneider took first and second, respectively. •••

Treasury Solutions pranks Marsho for second year

The Treasury Solutions team’s Halloween pranking of Jeff Marsho is now officially an annual tradition, as the operations manager and AVP came in for the second year to find his workspace covered in spooktacular decor.

“It’s extra fun, since Jeff is highly organized — so causing disruption to his organizational skills is quite entertaining,” jokes VP loan operations Nicole Daniels. “He’s always a good sport about it!”

“I was taken by complete surprise last October, and found it quite funny,” Jeff says. “I was impressed and knew I was in the presence of true professional pranksters.” He thought this year he was safe, after his anniversary with the bank passed earlier last month and his workspace remained untouched. But the pranksters — Nicole, treasury solutions and commercial lending specialist Mary Fleischman, and team leader Loretta Bondi — were just waiting for him to let his guard down.

“I started giggling as soon as I came around the corner and saw my office had again been the victim of the happy pranksters,” Jeff says. “I couldn’t keep from laughing and am both amazed and impressed with the organization, detail, execution, and level of secrecy they are able to keep!”

“The ideas always start with Mary,” Loretta says. “She shares them with us, and they just grow from there, each of us adding our take on the theme. We start looking for the props and run them past each other. The coffin for this year’s prank was awesome! The mustaches were an added touch from one of Jeff’s favorite movies, A Million Ways to Die in the West. He consistently references and quotes it to all of us! This is a great team to be a part of!” •••

Kids choose terrific costumes for Halloween

Even if they didn’t make it to Corporate for trick-or-treating, North Shore Bank employees’ kids had a happy Halloween!

Shorewood branch manager AVP Shannon Weber’s daughter Izzy visited the Milwaukee County Zoo for the Boo at the Zoo event. “She was so excited to be at the zoo at night,” Shannon says. “It was extra-spooky fun.”

For the event, the North Shore Bank Safari Train became the Raven’s Rail, which featured ghosts and goblins scaring passengers as the train rolled along. The frightening freaks turned out to be part of a Scooby-Doo adventure, and were rounded up by his gang by the end.

And of course, there were lots of fabulous costumes this year. Senior secondary market specialist Marzena Kroll’s kids Jackson, 10, and Olivia, 9, went as Harry Potter and Hermione Granger this year. Burlington teller Emily Henry’s son Eli and daughter Harper went as Flounder and Ariel from The Little Mermaid. And Muskego universal banker Sara Speich’s daughter Braelyn was Dolores from Encanto. •••

Germantown Library After Dark draws over 1,000

Over 1,000 people showed up for the Library After Dark event at the Germantown Community Library on Saturday, October 22, sponsored by North Shore Bank.

“The library was thankful for our sponsorship, support, and participation at the event,” Germantown community engagement manager AVP Erica Hughes said. “They were so excited to have such great numbers and hope we can work with them again next year!”

North Shore Bank donated $1,500 to the library for its fall programming. The library also raised $1,750 at the haunted-house event, which will go toward its winter programs.

“We were able to share tips with so many families on identity theft protection for their children,” Erica said. “We are looking forward to seeing them start visiting the Germantown branch!” •••

Partnership providing books for Children’s Wisconsin
This week, North Shore Bank announced a partnership with Children’s Wisconsin as part of our Bank on Kindness community goodwill initiative. Through Tuesday, November 22, members of the public can donate to provide books for patients cared for at two Children’s Wisconsin hospitals, as well as its school-based mental health programs, through a community-focused website we’ve created.

The books will help families with children in the neonatal intensive care units at Children’s Milwaukee and Fox Valley hospitals, providing patient families with the opportunity to read out loud to their babies. The funds will also support patients through Children’s Child Life and Creative Arts Therapies, as well as school-based mental and behavioral health programs.

The Bank on Kindness online donation portal makes it easy for the public to donate, and North Shore Bank will match all donations up to $5,000. To participate, members of the public can visit the website or text “Kindness” to 62641. •••

Customer expresses gratitude to Hall for help
Ashwaubenon teller Sam Hall earned serious praise from a customer after helping him get a handle on some new technology:

I am writing a quick note to commend the work of one of your bank’s employees, Sam Hall. On three separate occasions during the past week, Sam has been helpful beyond the call in “clearing the way” to receive and execute a money transfer on Zelle.

Sam Hall

Being a novice in such matters, I leaned heavily on Sam’s expertise in this area. He was always patient and gently instructive when guiding me through the administrative complexity and various security issues involved in this process.

As a retired university professor, I have had innumerable contacts with individuals in Sam’s cohort over the years and feel I can reliably speak to his personal qualities. Simply put, Sam is a highly personable individual that has an easy and confident way with people as well as technical expertise. I learned a lot doing business with him. As a longtime user of North Shore Bank services, I give Sam Hall a grade of A and classify him as a well-trained and highly motivated employee.

“Sam has great follow-through and takes pride in knowing that using Zelle will be convenient for the professor,” area manager Sharon Hack said. “He was determined to get it working.”

“I think I had such success helping him because I kept following up and working until the problem was resolved,” Sam said. “Use your resources, and get help from others — sometimes it is not a problem that you can fix by yourself. But always own the problem and make sure that all of a customer’s problems are resolved. Let them know that we are always here for them.” •••

Team raises over $2,200 at Making Strides

Business relationship manager Cheri Cicona-Trudell and her team raised over $2,200 to fight breast cancer in the Making Strides of Milwaukee walk on October 15.

“The walk was amazing,” Cheri said. “It was a celebration of being a survivor, showing others with cancer that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that the community is there to support and help them. No one walks this path alone.”

Cheri is a seven-year survivor of breast cancer, and her mother, Sue, is a 40-year survivor and joined her team. Fellow breast cancer survivor Southridge assistant branch manager Marie Cruz also walked as part of Cheri’s team. •••

Promotions for October 2022
The following employees were promoted last month:

• JoEllen Brisk was promoted from Consumer Loan Specialist to Senior Consumer Loan Specialist.
• Kaitlin Czarnecki was promoted from Senior Lending Quality Control Specialist to Lending Quality Control Team Leader.
• Tiffany Dettmann was promoted from Lending Quality Control Specialist to Senior Lending Quality Control Specialist.
• Jamie DeVore was promoted from Universal Banker at Kenosha South to Teller Supervisor at Kenosha Main.
• Sarah Gantner was promoted from Consumer Credit Adjustor to Consumer Credit Analyst.
• Larrisa Gilbert was promoted from Commercial Loan Specialist to Senior Commercial Loan Specialist.
• Yvette Jankowski was promoted from Commercial Loan Specialist to Senior Commercial Loan Specialist.
• Lacee Kalepp was promoted from Branch Manager II at Northland to Area Manager for Northland and Menasha.
• Tony Larke was promoted from System Administrator–Residential/Consumer Lending to System Administrator Loan Operations.
• Mary Ott was promoted from Marketing Manager to Product Manager.
• Angelica Padilla was promoted from Residential Loan Specialist to Senior Residential Loan Specialist.
• Georgia Phillips was promoted from Consumer Loan Specialist to Senior Consumer Loan Specialist.
• Kelly Schneider was promoted from Consumer Loan Specialist to Senior Consumer Loan Specialist.
• Brett Staeven was promoted from Residential Loan Specialist to Senior Residential Loan Specialist.
• Nazirah Tate was promoted from Universal Banker at MLK Drive to Personal Banker at Milwaukee Capitol.
• Melissa Wantuch was promoted from Senior Mortgage Underwriter to Mortgage Underwriter–Team Leader.

Leave a comment to congratulate them!

New Hires for November 3
It’s always exciting to add new members to our team. Here are some of the fresh faces at North Shore Bank.

Video teller Kenya Padilla was born and raised in Milwaukee, and is majoring in finance at UW-Milwaukee. “I enjoy traveling,” she says. “It’s always exciting visiting a new city or country for the first time and trying their foods and experiencing their traditions!” She most recently visited Rome. “My favorite part was enjoying a sunset at the Trevi Fountain while eating gelato.” •••

Milwaukee County Zoo holding Family Free Day
What’s going on with you? If you or someone in your family has a special event — a concert, show, sporting or charity event, or another important moment — send the details to shorelines@northshorebank.com. We’ll include information about select events to let your colleagues know about all the cool stuff happening with the North Shore Bank team.

Looking for more to do? Here are suggestions from the bank’s event calendar:

The 2022 WICPA Tax Conference, sponsored by North Shore Bank, is taking place today and tomorrow, Friday, November 4, at the Brookfield Conference Center. Put on by the Wisconsin Institute of CPAs, the conference will feature experts discussing federal and Wisconsin state tax updates, SECURE Act regulations, hot tax-practice procedures and ethical issues, and more. More info here.

Family Free Day at the Milwaukee County Zoo will be this Saturday, November 5. This monthly event is sponsored by North Shore Bank and Fox 6 and features free admission to the zoo for everyone! (Parking fees still apply.) The zoo is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. More info here. •••